3 April 2007 - France, Korea and Russia chasing USA

France, Korea and Russia chasing USA Ulsan – 3 April 2007  Joanna Chesse (FRA)    Today is the second qualification day at the Ulsan World Cup, first stage of the year. The Compound Women and Recurve Men competitors have taken up the field at 09:00 am (local time) to shoot the two long distances (70m-60m for women and 90m-70m for men). After a lunch break they will continue in the afternoon with the short distances (50m-30m for all).   The Americans ladies Jamie Van Natta and Jahna Davis have started strong taking the first two positions with 763 and 754 points respectively. At Davis’s heels we find the Korean Hyo Sun Chan with 753. Korean female archers have shown up as a surprise in the Compound division with another in the top 6 –Jung Hee Seo. Their team is ranked third half way in these qualification rounds.   Another team making great impression this morning is France. Amandine Bouillot, Joanna Chesse (photo) and Valerie Fabre are provisionally second behind the untouchable Americans Davis, Fleury and Van Natta who are already 52 points ahead of the French. The three French archers all agreed to saying that “it was a bit difficult with the cold and the wind, but we are happy of our performance up till now. Things have been going off rather well.”      Valérie Fabre (FRA) third from the left Although only Valerie Fabre remains of the team who was World Champion in 2005 in Madrid, Bouillot and Chesse have nothing to envy Bloch, Volle and Jousselin –Fabre’s team-mates at the time (photo). They will certainly be serious opponents for the Americans in the race for this year’s team competitions culminating with the Leipzig Outdoor World Championships in July. Other strong rivals in this division are the Russians led by individual 2006 World Cup winner Sofia Goncharova.   See you in the afternoon for the Qualifications Rounds at short distances for Compound Women and Recurve Men competitors. All the RESULTS See more PHOTOS Ludivine Maitre Wicki FITA Communication